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Black Stars brought down to earth

There were no klaxons reverberating around the Ghanaian capital
on Thursday evening. No cheering crowds either. Just heads dropped
and gazed looks as 40,000 crestfallen fans left the Ohen Djan
stadium in a daze. Falling short so close to the final prize is a
cruel ordeal at the best of times - and this was emphatically not
the best of times.

A little later in the night, the Black Stars imitated their
supporters by slipping quickly and quietly onto their coach. The
only player willing to share his thoughts with
FIFA.com was Andre 'Dede' Ayew, and he was
unable to conceal his distress. "This defeat is a real tragedy
for us," he said. "The atmosphere in the changing-room
was intense and we're all devastated. Looking back at the match
straight afterwards, we reckoned we'd done what we needed to do
and we created more chances than Cameroon. I'm feeling
immensely disappointed. I don't even want to think about the
match for third place."

Expecting to watch the semi-final unfold from the bench, the
young son of Ghanaian legend Abedi Pele was handed a late starting
berth after Laryea Kingston picked up an injury during the warm-up.
"It wasn't easy to find myself playing so suddenly,"
explained Ayew.

"But after a few difficult minutes I started to feel better
and better." So much so that he even created his team's
best chance with a half-volley 69 minutes into the encounter, only
for Geremi to clear off the goalline: "What can I say?
That's football. I did what I could and that might have made me
Man of the Match, but the defender was well placed so
congratulations to him."

Having served up football to savour all throughout the
tournament, the Black Stars ultimately seemed to run out of steam
against Cameroon. It must have been difficult for their fans to
watch, but perhaps it was inevitable after the huge physical and
mental strain of their quarter-final win.

When coach Claude Le Roy appeared before the press in the wake
of the loss, the usual sparkle had completely gone from his eyes.
"I've never felt so sad in my entire career," he
said. "I want to congratulate Cameroon and thank all my
players. I can't come up with any excuses. I'm just sad for
the whole country and I share their pain. We had what it takes to
be African champions but it's not going to happen. There you
go."

Despite his seat on the Local Organising Committee, former Ghana
defender Anthony Baffoe reacted like a fan in the street,
meanwhile. "It's as if we've been hit on the head with
a sledgehammer," he told
FIFA.com. "We were all expecting Sunday's
final to be a fantastic party. Whatever happens, it will be a great
game, but without Ghana the atmosphere won't be the same. The
lads put in a huge effort given how many players were out. This
team still has immense potential, though. We need to stay united
now and quickly get ourselves back on track in the qualifiers for
the next World Cup."

The streets away from the stadium were as packed as ever after
the curtain fell on Ghana's challenge, but this time the locals
headed for bed in silence. Those who spoke did so without
expectation of an answer. "What did we do to God?,"
inquired one tearful woman to no-one in particular. "We were
supposed to lift the trophy." Then, in the distance, the sound
of a horn broke out, growing steadily closer until a car hurtled by
at top speed, overtaking the rest of the backed-up traffic in a
defiant rush to be somewhere. "You can beat us but you
can't keep us down. We'll win the competition in
2010."